Come help us celebrate the debut release of the brand new Jo Henley album, INSIDE OUT, on Friday, February 5 at Caffe Lena in Saratoga Springs, NY.  We’ll be performing two sets starting at 8pm–the first an acoustic hoedown bluegrass-style set, followed by an electric set featuring songs off Inside Out and other JH favorites.  This really is going to be a special show.  Be sure to get your tickets now by calling 518-583-0022 or by going HERE.

Once it’s set in stone I will share the track listing with you, so check back soon…

And don’t forget to order your Caffe Lena tickets for our first CD Release Party, which will take place on Friday, February 5.  This is gonna be a great show!

It’s only the third day of the new decade and I already have some good stuff to tell you all about.  Yesterday Ben, Rob, and I spent the day at Sean McLaughlin’s studio to finalize the mixes.  Seany Mac’s a genius when it comes to this stuff and is working his magic on our songs.  They sound amazing, they really do.  We still have a couple of tunes left, which we’ll wrap up tomorrow, but that’s it; Inside Out is pretty much all mixed and ready to be mastered on Saturday with Jeff Lipton at Peerless Mastering!  (Mastering is the final step in the recording process that makes the whole thing sparkle, much like a pat of butter on a warm biscuit, olives in a martini, a cigarette after sex…you get the idea.)   Then it’s sent off to be duplicated.  Having spent a whole bunch of time listening to these mixes over the past couple weeks, I can tell you that this is going to be one very special record.  We love it, and we hope you will, too.  We’re pretty confident you will.

The official record release parties for Inside Out will be sometime in mid-March–details to follow soon–but those of you who come out to our February 5th show Caffe Lena will be able to get your copy then!  And of course anyone who pre-orders his or her copy will get Inside Out as soon as it’s available.  To find out more about how to pre-order, email me at andy@johenley.com.

Also, last but not least, we’re still looking for any help we can get to finish the new record, promote it, tour behind it, and get our music out there to as many folks as we can.  We encourage you to read this to find out how you can help Jo Henley.

More news to come, including the final track listing for Inside Out, sneak previews, and a special guest we’ll have sitting in with us at Caffe Lena on February 5–a show you definitely not want to miss–so check back soon!

Andy

On behalf of Ben, Jeremy, and Jordan, we wish you all a happy and healthy holiday season!  Now that we’ve played our last show of the year (and, yikes, decade!) I can look back at 2009 and say it was truly a remarkable year for Jo Henley.  At the start of this year our last record, Sad Songs and Alcohol, was sitting nicely among the national Americana chart’s (AMAs) Top 100.  We played close to 100 shows, embarked on tours that took us as far south as Atlanta and twice as far west as California, and recorded a soon-to-be-released new album, Inside Out, that we just know you’re gonna LOVE.   We lost some awesome bandmates this year, but we also gained one terrific one in Jeremy, and have been having a total blasterific time performing, albeit temporarily, as a drumless pseudo-bluegrass quartet, one that can move from a weepy country waltz one second to a jammed out funk groove the next, and everything in between.  It’s truly been a lot of fun (though fear not, we will have a drummer back in the fold by the time our 2010 shows roll around).

I could go on and on, but I’ll resist.  Quickly, just two more items…

Our fundraising efforts for our new album are still underway.  So far we have raised 45% of our goal of $5000, which is far better than I had hoped by this time.  We are humbled by your support thus far and feel very fortunate for everyone who has so graciously contributed to our campaign.  But we still have a ways to go and still could use all the help we can get.  To find out how you can help Jo Henley is a very big way, go here.

Speaking of the new album, our very first CD release party for Inside Out is scheduled for Friday, February 5 at Caffe Lena in Saratoga Springs, NY.  Caffe Lena is one of the country’s oldest and most prestigious folk/roots music venues, and it’s always an honor to take the same stage that so many other legends have over the years.  For this show, to celebrate the release of the new album, we are planning a two-set show, with the first set all acoustic and the second set electric.  We also will have a couple of  very special guests joining us, too, so you won’t want to miss this one!  Caffe Lena is an intimate setting with limited seating.  We expect this show to sell out, so please reserve your seats now by going here.

Last but not least, it is very easy this time of year to forget that while the rest of us enjoy the warmth of family, food, presents, and festive cheer, there are a whole lot of folks out there less fortunate than us.  I encourage you to help out in any way you can.  It doesn’t have to be anything big, either.  Whatever you can do.  Drop a buck or two in Salvation Army box, give some extra canned goods to a local food drive, etc.  There are so many ways to give, and I urge you all to do so.  I promise you will feel a whole lot better afterward.

Till next time, candy canes and ho ho ho,

Andy & JH

See you Friday night at Tommy Doyle’s at 9pm.  Last JH show of 2009!

Andy

I’ll have more to say shortly about 2009 and what this year has meant for Jo Henley, but before we start waxing nostalgic, there is still one more show to play.  This Friday, 12/18, we’re playing at Tommy Doyle’s in Harvard Square.  We go on about 9:15pm.  There is no cover to get in if you arrive before 9, so please come out early and have a few drinks with us.  Again, this will be your last chance to catch Jo Henley for the rest of the year, and I absolutely promise you this will be a show you won’t want to miss!!!

Friday, December 18 @ Tommy Doyle’s.  96 Winthrop St., Cambridge, MA (Harvard Square).  9pm.

Just wanted to let you all know that there’s been a change to our schedule. We are no longer going to be at Van Gogh’s Ear in Union, NJ tomorrow night (12/10). Instead we will be in Teaneck, NJ at Mexicali Live. We take the stage at 9pm.

Spread the word, and sorry for the last-minute switcheroo.

www.mexicalilive.com

You can donate to our cause in the name of a music-loving friend or loved one and we will make sure that person gets his or her CD in the mail or name in the liner notes, etc.  Just be sure to include this information with your check, if you choose the snail mail payment option.  If you donate(d) by PayPal as a gift for someone else, please send an email to andy@johenley.com and give us the appropriate name, address, T-shirt size, or whatever other pertinent information we will need.  If you want a CD (or CDs) signed to someone in particular, for example, let us know.  And don’t be overwhelmed by our donation levels.  We created those as guidelines only.  If you want something in particular that’s not on the list, write us and we’ll make it work.  If you simply want a copy of Inside Out when it’s released, by all means you may order a single copy, no problem

As far as an update on how our campaign is going so far, I am thrilled to say we have in barely a week’s time raised about 25% of our $5000 goal! This is still far from where we need to be to get our new record done–we still need a whole lot of help from you guys–but we are super happy to have gotten off to such a great start, and we have all of you to thank!  Our deepest gratitude to all who have pitched in so far.  We know times are tough, and it’s in times like these that the arts are usually the first to suffer, unfortunately, so to be able to get the response we’ve gotten this past week is amazing.  Thank you for the bottom of our hearts.  Let’s hope others catch on and help out, too!

Here’s how your generosity helps us in a very direct way:  Last week, we weren’t sure when we would be able to start mixing the new record.  Honest to God.  Now, fast forward a week: tonight Ben and I are going to our first mixing meeting with Rob (our producer) and Sean McLaughlin (who will mix the record) to brainstorm, discuss, and get mixing underway in the coming days.  Pretty cool, right?

(If you’re reading this wondering what the %$#@ I’m taking about, either scroll down or go here.)

Andy